Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, the city’s teachers’ union, said the changes proposed on Saturday amounted to favoritism for charter schools at the expense of students in traditional public schools.“They can’t be second-class citizens in their own school system,” Mr. Mulgrew said.
Now they are.
Eva Moskowitz can now expand her schools as much as she wants and the city is on the hook for the rent or the space.
Also, every time SUNY authorizes a new charter, the city is on the hook for rent/space there too.
You can bet Eva will test this new power this year.
Shame the UFT/AFT didn't fight this.
But like Albany pols, they probably took a measure of the power in this fight between de Blasio and Eva and decided de Blasio is weak and would lose the battle.
Do not be surprised if Randi Weingarten comes out in support of Cuomo. This is what her actions indicate. She is working for the neoliberal wing of the Democratic Party against rank and file teachers.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. I really think the UFT/AFT signed off on this deal with a wink and a nod. There's a reason Silver didn't fight it.
DeleteMulgrew is either dissembling, and gave Silver a nod-and-wink to accept this deal, because he so slavishly supports Cuomo, or else is utterly powerless to do anything.
ReplyDeleteEither way, teachers and students lose, and 52 Broadway continues to be a dues-collection agency.
I suspect it's the former, despite Weingarten's claims on Twitter to fighting it.
DeleteAnything Weingarten says should not be trusted. Watch her actions. Words can be used to lie (especially on Twitter), actions tell the truth of what a person believes.
DeleteAbsolutely.
DeleteDo not only pay attention to her actions - but her inaction. Weingarten's silence on the latest attack on NYC public schools is deafening. She can run to the Ukraine to put in her two cents on their schools, nothing about NYC public schools. It's because both have the same privatization of public schools goal.
DeleteIt's both of the above on Mulgrew.
ReplyDeleteHey - now the UFT can tap in to the fund for their own charter instead of using out dues money or whatever they use to support it. Isn't it time for us to call for them to give up their charter and join the battle?
ReplyDeleteNorm,
DeleteIt is time for UFT to open more charters.
I tweeted something like this to Weingarten as she claimed to have fought the budget. Hard to fight this when UFT has its own co-located charter.
DeleteLike the UFT really cares. They would take a New Orleans style mostly charter system as long as the dues keep coming in (they keep most of the charters unionized with lousy contracts). .
ReplyDeleteAgreed. So long as the dues money come in and Weingarten makes $400K and Mulgrew $300K, it's all good.
DeleteI think Weingarten's is more like $500,000. Don't sell her out short.
DeleteShe made $407,323 in 2011. I'm sure she's gone up since, but I haven't seen any updated figures.
DeleteThis legislation is a gift to landlords. Eva and her husband have designs on opening charter schools in "nicer" neighborhoods such as Cobble Hill and WIlliamsburg. Now the city will be on the hook for paying building rents in those neighborhood$. Absurd!
ReplyDeleteThey still have to get authorization. SUNY will probably authorize them if the city doesn't it. It's bad.
DeleteSUNY approves just about anything Eva asks for. It must be nice to spend other people's money. I am going to try acting like SUNY tonight, " Hi struggling middle class family, I approve you to live in that nice gleaming condo in Williamsburg. I know you can't afford it, but don't worry about. The taxpayers of New York City will pay for it."
ReplyDeleteYeah, she'll get whatever she wants through SUNY. Bet she's close to 40 charters in two years time.
DeleteAll Weingarten does is sell us out. We need to find a viable alternative.
ReplyDeleteThey've got it all rigged at the AFT and UFT. Hrd to see any alternative happening any time soon. If they see MORE getting close, they'll make retiree votes count 250%
DeleteThere is an alternative, and the only way to 'make it viable" is to get our colleagues off of their rear ends. VOTE MORE! We are letting the retirees have way too much of a say, and allowing apathy to let Mulgrew/Weingarten/CC$$ do us in. Ms. Weingarten insists they are fighting and I say with what? A water gun? Bubble wrap? What? It is nice that the AFT chief will respond on Twitter, but we see no action just parsed nuanced words. From Mulgrew? Nothing, not a word. Been that way for the last 20 years from these two. Especially in the Napoleonic Era. Oops, I mean the BloomKleinRheeCottGates Era.
ReplyDeleteDid CTU get loads and loads from their walk out? No, but they got respect, they got to prove that it can be done, and what do we get in NYC...deafening silence.
You're right.
DeleteI am Anon 8:01. I am in Newark and we get repeatedly screwed by Weingarten. The part I find infuriating is the way she pretends she is representing our interests and not the billionaires' concepts of education. They have no idea what we go through. Watching what is going on in New York makes it more discouraging.
ReplyDeleteThat infuriates me too. She sold Newark teachers out, pushed that horrific contract, then has the gall to make believe like she had nothing to do with all the bad things happening to teachers there.
DeleteIt's all coming from the same Great Satan...giving them the unique ability to speak with that silver tongue...WHATEVER they say...it will be delivered by "The Press" to the sheeple as Word.
ReplyDeleteNo doubt, press sold the charter story here. Especially the Post. But the DN and Times too.
DeleteI have felt all along that the key to this budget fight was DB's desire for pre-K funding. As I read somewhere, DB was foolish to fight charter school expansion while he was fighting for pre-K funding. Silver let it be known from the start that he was against the Senate and Cuomo in their unrestrained protections for charter school--but, DB needed a lot of money for Pre-K and Silver had to compromise. The biggest tool that the mayor and the city comptroller have now is the fact that Eva's schools must now be subject to an audit. This should be done with great fanfare and publicity. The public needs to know what is going on behind those closed doors. I also think the formation of a group to handle disputes between charter school co-locators an their host schools is a great idea. The host schools now have a voice, and it should be heard loud and clear. Published in every paper. And, maybe now the two kind of schools occupying one building can begin to share facilities.
ReplyDeleteThe audit is a big thing. Alas, Scott Stringer, Eva ally these days, will be conducting that audit (see link below.) Don't think for a minute Stringer will hold her accountable - he has designs on higher office and knows that his ambitions must align with Eva's:
Deletehttp://perdidostreetschool.blogspot.com/2014/03/comptroller-stringer-shills-for-eva.html
Just wanted to that it's not as bad as looks. It seems pretty obvious that the costs are being offset by extra funds from the state. SO, actually, Andy is paying the bill. In addition to that, the City of New York owns more land in NYC than anyone else. It doesn't cost much to refurbish a building they already own. Thi sis totally al oss; there's no question. But it's far from the big humiliation that MSM are making it out to be.
ReplyDeleteAnd at this point, everyone with an agenda is free to point fingers at this budget. So, for people with agendas (both those I subscribe to and others (like Eva's) which I don't, this budget is probably a boom.
It doubles down on CCSS, enshrines even more CCSS propaganda and PD money into the budget, and gives Eva control over her own expansion. I'm not as optimistic as you over this budget. And the audit she will be subject to will be at the hands of Scott Stringer. As I wrote above, don't think for a minute Stringer will hold her accountable - he has designs on higher office and knows that his ambitions must align with Eva's.
DeleteIn one way, Cuomo did us a favor, though. By continuing to link APPR to CCSS tests, he leaves in place a core absurdity of the state's accountability formula. It's ripe for a court challenge and a PR assault.
Are you going to orchestrate the PR assault RBE?
ReplyDeleteI'm just one blogger with one little blog, so "orchestrate" is a little above my pay grade. But I'll post about it and tweet about it, you bet. And I'll ask readers to write their Assembly Members and Senators and I'll contact Silver and Nolan too.
ReplyDeleteMy point was we are blogging and commenting and getting nowhere. The Moskowitz commercials are so powerful. There is almost never a balanced news story on television. If it is not blatantly pro-charter, the story is starting to look good. We are preaching to the choir. How can we reach the outside world?
ReplyDeleteVery difficult to counter a $4 million one month ad blitz. Certainly the UFT/AFT could have done so if they had desired to do it. But they didn't. Also, de Blasio could have done a much better job articulating his vision for traditional public schools. He didn't. And lastly, Farina and BdB could have waited until after the budget to announce the overtunring of the 3 co-locations. They didn't do that either. Lots of things could have been done to orchestrate a different outcome here. Alas, only Eva seems to be thinking three steps ahead. Guess all that chess she has going on a Success helps her think strategically.
Delete